Media Buzz | News/views about local media

Jaramillo to return to local TV

According to KTSM's Facebook page, former KFOX-er Noreen Jaramillo will return to the local airwaves on Dec. 12.

She will be the station's new morning anchor, replacing current morning anchor Amber Downing, who will move to weekend anchor. The current weekend anchor, Kai Porter, will then move back to reporting Monday through Friday.

Jaramillo used to be the morning anchor at KFOX until December 2009, when she left after the station didn't renew her contract following a three-year stint. Before that, she spent three years at San Francisco's KTVU. She's also known for being KFOX's first-ever anchor in 1997, and spent time reporting for KVIA.

Jaramillo has already set up a Facebook page, which can be viewed by clicking here.

KTSM/KDBC names new news director

Lauren Macias-Cervantes, a familiar name among local media circles, has been named the news director of KTSM/KDBC. She starts Dec. 5.

Macias-Cervantes will replace Hollis Grizzard, who recently announced he's leaving the station at the end of the year.

The announcement was made earlier today to station employees. Macias-Cervantes is no stranger to El Paso news. She is a former executive producer at KFOX, a position she left in 2007 to become the spokeswoman at Workforce Solutions Upper Rio Grande.

Both as a producer and as a public relations profession, Macias-Cervantes has won several accolades for her work. In the past, she's won several Lone Star Emmy, Katie, Houston Press Club Lone Star, and Texas and New Mexico Associated Press awards.

Macias-Cervantes began her career at KTSM in 1995 as an intern, and also worked as a reporter and producer at KDBC before moving to KFOX in 1998.

She is a graduate of New Mexico State University and last year earned her masters degree in business from the University of Phoenix.

Her husband, George, is a photog at KFOX. The couple have three children, ages 8 to 18.

KVIA GM bids farewell to Avila

KVIA reporter/anchor Celina Avila will say goodbye to viewers at 10 p.m. Wednesday, and the station's general manager Kevin Lovell has written a touching tribute column about Avila and her journalist work.

After eight years at KVIA, Avila, a native El Pasoan who has become popular among viewers, will be moving to Riverside, Calif. to join her husband Brian Wickstrom, the athletics director at UC Riverside.

"Celina has always been pretty. But she’s had to grow and mature into becoming an outstanding anchor and dogged reporter when she sinks her teeth into a story," Lovell writes in his column.

You can read Lovell's column here.

Newsy tidbits

•KTSM's new morning weatherman Mark Mathis has been quickly attracting attention here in El Paso after making a big impact among viewers in Sacramento.

In April, Mathis left Sacramento's CW affilate KMAX after several on-air hijinx, including calling a cop who had recently pulled him over as a “jerk-off” on air, according to mediabistro.com.

To read more about Mathis' Sacramento departure, click here.

•In more KTSM/KDBC-related news, a double congratulations goes out to KDBC anchor Adrienne Alvarez, who recently announced on-air that she is expecting her first child. She also recently married her longtime boyfriend, Hazael Dominguez.

•Former El Paso Times reporter Stephanie Sanchez is saying adios to the Sun City. Sanchez, who currently works as a writer for UTEP's public relations department, has accepted a similar position with the University of Texas at San Antonio.

KVIA's Garcia named afternoon anchor

KVIA reporter Maria Garcia will succeed Celina Avila as the station's 4 p.m. anchor, Garcia recently announced.

Avila will be leaving the station later this month to join her husband, Brian Wickstrom, in California. Wickstrom is the athletic director at the University of California Riverside.

Garcia, who like Avila is an El Paso native, has been earning kudos from viewers for her recent investigative reports. She will also report for KVIA's 10 p.m. newscast.

Garcia will start her new duties in December.

Newsy tidbits

•KVIA's Stephanie Valle returned to the station today from maternity leave. She gave birth in early September to her second child, a beautiful baby boy named Alexander Scott.

•KTSM/KDBC news director and station manager Hollis Grizzard announced late last month that he will be leaving El Paso at the end of the year. He is currently helping the station search for his replacement. Word on the street is the station will be making several new reporter hires in the next few months.

•Former El Paso Times reporter and former KVIA reporter/anchor Robert Holguin is now a familiar face among television viewers in Los Angeles. He is a reporter for L.A.'s ABC affiliate KABC-TV, and has been covering the Dr. Conrad Murray Trial for the past several weeks.

EP radio veteran to leave the airwaves

Radio leader Courtney Nelson recently announced his retirement from the El Paso airwaves, according to a report from All Access Music Group.
The report states Nelson and his family will be moving to San Antonio in the next three months or so.
Nelson has been with Townsquare Media of El Paso for the past 25 years, most recently as the program director for KLAQ 95.5 FM and KSII 93.1 FM.
He may be better known as the former co-host of the KLAQ Morning Show with Big Al Jones, who is now a disc jockey at Rock 105.1 FM.
"He has been a key player in KLAQ's success over the past several years as well as KISS-FM and 600 ESPN," Townsquare general manager Brad Dubow told All Access Music group.
Nelson recently celebrated his 25th year with KLAQ.
"Though we are excited about this new chapter in Courtney's life, we know that his loss will be felt," Dubow said.

KFOX hires familiar face, KTSM alumn Erika Castillo

In a brief message KFOX news director Elizabeth O'Hara announced the station's new primetime anchor:

 

" KFOX14 is proud to announce the hiring of Erika Castillo as the new primetime anchor.
 
Erika has a long and proud history in the El Paso market.  An Ysleta High School and UTEP graduate, Erika got her start at KTSM in 1989. Erika helped take KTSM to the #1 position before leaving in 1998 for the weekend anchor gig in Dallas at KDFW. From there, Erika left for KRQE in Albuquerque, taking the #3 station to #1 over the course of her time there.
 
Erika and her husband have five children and will be moving to the area in the next few weeks.
 
Erika's start date at KFOX is December 5th.
 
Please join me in welcoming back Erika Castillo back home!"